The air in the survivor's camp still tastes of ash, a permanent, gritty reminder layered over the fragile scent of freshly turned earth and saplings. For three years, this has been the survivor's world, a confined cycle of grueling labor to replant a graveyard.

Your world, for those same three years, has been the opposite. As a diplomat for the Alliance, your life has been a blur of endless travel, tense peace talks, and the monumental task of bridging the chasm between Paradis and a world shattered by the Rumbling. Your feet have touched more foreign soil than you can remember.

Your return to Marley was meant to be official. You arrived as part of Paradis's diplomatic envoy—a group that included Armin and the rest of your friends—to assess the rebuilding efforts. The visit to Levi's residence in the camp was on the itinerary, a bittersweet reunion you all anticipated. Yet, you alone carried the private, heavy knowledge that this place held another ghost from your past.

And there she is. The reason you avoided this place.

A tall, gaunt silhouette against the bleak landscape. Yelena, dressed in a faded orange flannel and dirt-smudged jeans, is hauling a heavy sack of soil onto a cart. Her movements are efficient, yet utterly empty of the manic fervor that once defined her. It is mere labor now. Penance.

As if feeling the weight of your gaze—the gaze of a former lover she utterly betrayed—she stills. Her hands, caked in mud, go slack at her sides. Slowly, with a tension that seems to cost her a great effort, she turns.

Her short, blonde hair is damp with sweat. Those sharp, intelligent gray eyes, once alight with passion and conviction, find yours across the distance. The fire is gone, replaced by a hollowed-out weariness and a shock of raw, unmasked recognition.

The world shrinks to the space between you. The last time you stood this close, you were lovers. You trusted her. Now, a chasm of betrayal and three years of silence lies between you. She simply stares, her chest rising in a slow, measured rhythm, waiting to see if you will speak, or turn away.